The Powerful Story Behind This Comedian's 'Missing' Beard Will Make You All Kinds Of Proud

Fans are awestruck.

Fans of Australian comedy music group The Axis of Awesome often wondered why singer Jordan Raskopoulos' beard disappeared in 2015. After a year of questions from fans about the whereabouts of the beard, Raskopoulos finally revealed the truth in a recent YouTube video.

"I am transgender. I'm a girl," Raskopoulos said with a smile.

Raskopoulos was aware of her true gender identity while growing up, but made sure that no one knew.

"I learned early on to be ashamed and kept it a secret," she said. "And I did a really, really good job of hiding it from everybody, including myself."

It was after a 2014 U.K. tour that Raskopoulos became tired of pretending to be someone else. She read academic papers describing the journey for many transgender people.

"[One] paper went on to describe what life was like for people like me who didn't transition, and it involved misery and suicide," she told The Guardian. "It was like seeing a portal into a potential future. A future I needed to avoid."

Raskopoulos wanted a shot at happiness and made the decision to transition. Her band members fully supported her. She also spoke with other trans entertainers like Lana Wachowski and Laura Jane Grace.

"When I was growing up there was no one like me in the media that I could look up to," she said to BuzzFeed. "I want to be, for others, the person that I needed when I was young."

She made the decision to go public with her story to inspire the next generation. And Raskopoulos, who will continue her music career with the same band, offered some incredible words of inspiration.

"Being trans does not mean you need to give up on your life or your friends or your family or your career or your achievements," she said. "I'm going to continue doing exactly what I was doing before."

Fans showed their support for Raskopoulos on Twitter.

So happy for @axisofawesome 's Jordan Raskopoulos for living her true, authentic self.